Value Affordances in Students' Probability of Persisting as a Nursing Major

This study investigated how perceptions of agentic and communal values attract students to major in and persist in nursing. Participants reported a potential major and why they were attracted to that major. Transcripts were coded for declaration and graduating with a nursing major. Results showed that students who reported being attracted to a major for communal and agentic reasons were more likely to report nursing as a potential major, declare nursing as a major, and graduate with a nursing degree. Departments are encouraged to recruit students by highlighting the communal and agentic values that nursing affords.